EEP -- a new HP movie??? Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them

[ladywhizbee]

J.K. Rowling is partnering with Warner Brothers and plans to screenwrite a new HP movie based on Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them.

In universe it will happen 70 years before Harry. Read all about it here:

LeakyNewsI'm cautiously excited. I kinda like the idea of learning more about Newt Scamander and possibly some about Rolf (because of

Comments

[stmargarets]

Yay! I saw the news and I wondered if anyone was talking about it on lj. My mind went straight to shipping Rolf/Luna - LOL.

Sounds like she's writing it (probably *with* some screenwriters to help tweek). Writing a movie script would be a new challenge for her - and this sounds like it would light-hearted and fun. Unlike, say, the Marauders story, which be an angst fest since we know they all die.

I know she's planning on writing more in her mystery series(maybe she wants to get that on TV eventually?) Hard to say. She has a lot of creative energy, unlike me. :)

How are you?

[ladywhizbee]

Yes, I'm sure that she has some help. Writing a script is so different than writing a book--although she did get to see the HP movie scripts (in all their variations) and might have a good idea on how to do it from that--although, the process is really so different

[megan29]

I, too, noticed that the news release said this is the first movie in a new series, as part of an extended collaboration between WB and JKR. It's not very clear what this means: Will she write more movies? Will they all be in the HP universe? Will they all be based on existing books like FB, or will she come up with more original material? Or maybe it just means WB optioned all her writings set in the HP universe, but she may not be involved beyond this one? *shrugs*

She does have a long series of witch and wizard cards, all with funny backgrounds - she could develop a whole bunch of movies based on them. The question is, is she interested in going back to play in that universe for a whole series of movies? I respected her a lot for the decision to step away, but she seems to want to go back. And since I didn't like her new books, I'd rather she revisited the HP universe and wrote more creative stories in it.

[megan29]

Thanks for sharing the info. I hadn't seen it - and at first I wondered if it might be a false rumor. But it's posted on jkrowling.com, so it's legit. I am mildly excited, but will reserve judgement until there is more news on the plot (unless she intends to keep it all under wraps like HP). I've been rather turned off JK's writing by her two recent books, neither of which I liked. I found them too depressing and moralizing

[ladywhizbee]

Given that Harry Potter and the original Fantastic Beast text is written for kids, I bet the style of the movie will be in that same vein.

Since Newt as a character will be much older than Harry she might choose to include some darker subject matter (after all many of the magical beasts are restricted and seen as inferior like centaurs, giants, goblins so there is that) but she always seems to be aware of her younger audience...so I bet it will err more on the side of 'magical' than political. It will be interesting to see.

I only read a part of 'Casual Vacancy' before returning it to the library (mainly because I didn't finish it and it was due), but I did enjoy 'Cuckoo's Calling' as a frothy read. I'm sorry that you didn't like it. I will probably read the next in the series as well when it comes out. I'm just too curious. :-)

[megan29]

I suppose if the movie is targeted towards young audiences then it will be light. And I guess that's what WB is aiming for. I forgot about the discrimination against sentient creatures that's all over the series and especially the Fantastic Beasts booklet. She'll have plenty of scope to rant, but maybe in a lighter manner